Majesty back on course after engine room fire

Cruise ship Thomson Majesty returned to harbour for repairs after fire broke out in the engine room.

The incident occurred on Friday, shortly after the 1,462-passenger vessel had left the port of Livorno, in north-west Italy.

Repairs to the 24-year-old ship were completed yesterday evening and the ship arrived in Barcelona today – although scheduled calls to Calvi and Marseille had to be cancelled.

A Thomson Cruises spokesperson told me: “We can confirm that there was a small fire on board Thomson Majesty when sailing from Livorno to Calvi on Friday evening. It was immediately contained and extinguished and no passengers or crew were injured.

“The ship returned safely to Livorno where minor repairs were successfully carried out. While we worked as quickly as possible to minimise any disruption to the itinerary, there was a small change to the ship’s planned sailing. However, customers arrived in Barcelona this morning and a late stay was arranged to maximise their time ashore. Guests were also offered a gesture of goodwill on board for the inconvenience.

“The safety of our customers and crew is of paramount importance to us and we would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused.”

Sources at Thomson Cruises have denied that sister ship Thomson Spirit ran aground briefly in Portugal a few days earlier.

Reports on social media suggested the ship was stuck for an hour as it entered harbour at Portimão. However, I understand that strong river currents forced the captain to change his approach and the ship was not aground at any stage.

Following the arrival of TUI Discovery 2 next summer, both Majesty and Spirit are expected to leave the Thomson fleet by the end of 2017. They are chartered to Thomson by Cyprus-based Louis Cruises.